“Cyber Crime” The Internet Fraud catching up in Goa.

I have also included the tips for you to follow to avoid getting in the trap of cyber crime.

Due to the revolution in the internet virtual world, people from all across the world interacting with each other like neighbors, Social networking sites across the world has increased the possibilities of connecting the world in a friendship band. It all started with personal computer but now it is sitting on your palmtop (mobile phones and PDAs) having unlimited possibilities of communication. With the platform like IOS, Android & Windows mobile handsets have superseded the personal computers and Laptops. In this world of virtual illusions everybody lives day and night in fact many a times we forget which is our real world and what is illusion. We all eat drink and sleep in the virtual world.

Due to the convenience of communication media everybody using it as a medium to reach to the maximum people, some use it for good and others for Bad. Innocent individuals are not aware of the predators sitting on the other side of the terminal and are planning to take advantages of the situation. There are various angles and expressions for this type of situation but in this section we are talking only about the Cyber Scam which involves the financial frauds against the innocent people which infamously known as 419ers scam in South Africa & 420 in India.

The deceptive have various modus operandi depending on victim and situation they make plans and implement the same in very systematic manner. In the recent case in Goa Anita Cruz, 36, a resident of Velim, Salcete, was arrested by the Goa police for duping Goan NRI youths to the tune of 5lakh. Her modus operandi was to pose as a 21-year-old on Facebook with a fake ID claiming that she needed money for her “mother’s emergency treatment who needed to be rushed to a Mumbai hospital.”

Cruz, a housewife, created five fake profiles on the social networking site posing as a nurse working at Goa Medical College (GMC) and Hospital, Bambolim, and befriended Goan boys working abroad. She would tell them that she was staying with her mother and that she had lost her father when she was very young. She would sweet talk them, get close to them and suddenly, tell them that she needed money urgently for her mother’s treatment. A couple of boys fell prey to her claims and transferred money online to her cousin’s account’. Jovino (full name withheld) working in Dubai to the tune of Rs 4,15,000 over a period of time and Seby to the tune of Rs 50,000.

This is not the only case of the cyber crime in Goa. These things started in Goa from 2012 when there was not cyber cell in Goa, The director of Pune-based Intelligent Quotient Security System, Dr Herold D’Costa has said that due to lack of deterrence and stringent punishment in Goa the perpetrators of cyber crimes go scot-free and keep repeating the offence very often. He further said that “there is an urgent need to have a cyber cell in Goa and in absence of it people had to goto all the way from Goa, either in Pune or Mumbai.” In fact even I remember meeting Dr Herold D’Costa once in regards to the case of receiving threats on my mobile phone in form of msgs from numbers which were routed through some of the well respected people of Goa. At that time I realized how much serious these digital crime is getting to.

Anyways according to the news appeared in Times of India in August 2014 the cyber crime cell has registered its first case against an unidentified person for creating a fake account of a minor girl on social networking site Facebook and demanding money from the girl. The state government had recently issued a notification giving the cyber crime cell powers of a police station. The minor girl’s mother lodged a complaint with the cyber crime cell that a fake account of her daughter was created and that the accused was threatening her daughter by demanding money to get off the morphed images of her uploaded on the site.

According to the another news appeared in TOI in September 2014 The Cyber crime cell of Goa police arrested a minor boy, studying in class X, for trying to blackmail girls and extorting money from them on Facebook. Police said that the boy’s modus operandi was that he would create a fake account of girls and chat with them from their fake account, threatening to upload pornographic material on their fake accounts to tarnish their image if they didn’t give in to his demands. Police revealed that they had received a complaint from a minor girl, stating that one unidentified person had created a fake account of her and began threatening her.

According to the news published in NT Goa Newline With cyber crime cases in Salcete on the rise as evident from over eight cases registered by police stations in South Goa over a period of one year, regular inspections are being conducted to check whether directions given to cyber cafe owners are being followed or not. Police stations from Margao, Colva have booked several such cases and investigations are being carried out.

The moral of the story is one has to be very much prudent while dealing with the unknown people on the net, specially the social media has become the platform for these scammers and they use all types of trades to catch their prey, and once you are in then only God can save you. But I have still made this following tips available for you so that you can take the precautions before you become another prey of cyber scammers.

[su_list icon=”icon: arrow-right”]Here they are ….[/su_list]

Always accept the friends request from the people you know personally, or through reliable sources or the common friends of your friends.

Never give in your personal details to the unknown people on the net.

Demand of money for whatsoever reason over the net is the first alarm you must not disregard.

Do not reply to the mail sent by the unknown people claiming you have won million dollars over the net.

No financial company will give you million dollars for the investment without any security it is fraud.

When in doubt please talk to the people close to you and share your secrets with them as not sharing could cost you a lot

Make sure your social networking profiles (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, MSN, etc.) are set to private. Check your security settings. Be careful what information you post online. Once it is on the Internet, it is there forever!

Always think before you click on a link or file of unknown origin. Don’t feel pressured by any emails. Check the source of the message. When in doubt, verify the source. Never reply to emails that ask you to verify your information or confirm your user ID or password.

We know that some actions put us at greater risk of being victims of a crime. The Internet is the same way. Going to hacker sites, viewing adult content or going to sites that you know are scams put you at higher risk for a cyberattack than staying with more trusted sites.

The bottom-line is always go in the direction that is away from illusion and close to reality and you will remain safe forever. (citation needed)

About Rajesh Ghadge

Rajesh Ghadge is the Founder of Goa Prism Digital Media Company which consists of an online portal and digital magazine. Rajesh is from the media background and for him his work is his passion. According to him "Consistent development (self and work) is the way to success" and he keeps practicing what he preaches.